revolver rifles

2

2GunCorcoran

New member
I don't know if this should go in the wheelguns forum, but why are revovler rifles so rare?

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In the early days of revolving rifles [cap & ball] people were sometimes careless loading and if the gun fired more than one charge you injured your hand !! That gave them a bad reputation.By the time of cased ammo other rfle mechanisms had developed so revolver rifles were nolonger needed.
 
You get some hot gas escaping between the cylinder gap. The Taurus revolving carbine has a deflector to keep your hand and arm from being burnt by these gases. I think most of the original revolving rifles didn't have this feature and that is why they never caught on. In fact they were fired with both hands on th grip like a pistol.

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So I'd imagine the accuracy with these carbines wasn't ever as good as a rifled muzzle loader or single shot rifle. And when the Spencer repeating carbine and the Henry lever actions came out it probably all but killed the revolving carbine off.
 
Having seen many cartridge and revolver alignment problems, I just don't feel comfortable having a revolver cylinder that close to my face/eyes. I've had stuff spit at me from an arms-length revolver and may be overly concerned, but I only have two eyes...ONE of which I normally shoot with.
 
Another dead-end !!!

In the early days of revolving rifles [cap & ball] people were sometimes careless loading and if the gun fired more than one charge you injured your hand !!
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The fact that they would never evolved past this point, is a good indication of what a bad idea they were, for a rifle. Don't get me wrong, at face value, they look kind of neat. I have seen a number of the older replicas that are very striking to look at but that is where it stops. .... ;)


Be Safe !!!
 
But why not sell them today alongside bolt-action, pump-action, and lever-action rifles?
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Have you looked how much metal you need around true rifle rounds, or stuff like the 500 SW to hold the pressure? You end up with a very heavy system, for not all that impressive power. A lever action in the same caliber will hold more rounds, is faster to reload and doesn't have the gas escape problem at the gap (unless you design something along the old Nagant revolver concept, but there's a reason why that never caught on).
And historically, who would have used it? The military did not get away from the "we don't want fast fire, we want accurate fire" concept until the 20th century, early repeating rifles had mechanisms to prevent the use of the rounds in the magazine unless really needed, you were supposed to single load. Hunters want accuracy on the first shot, and don't need multi-round capability. Defensive scenarios usually were at short enough distance to use a handgun as your opponent tried to get close in. So, there never was a time where a revolver rifle offered a vital advantage to anyone.
Add that at the same type Colt was developing the revolver, Dreyse came up with the needle gun. The needle gun could fire 10 rounds a minute, can you reload a cap and ball revolver in 25 sec (assuming you fired 5 rounds in 5 sec)?
 
It's a good question but everything I've read said they didn't work well, which I never understood. But another good question is why aren't more handguns used with shoulder stocks? That was a concept that almost predated the revolver, only the revolver concept is actually quite old.

Aside from the legal issues, which would not be an issue for the police or the military, I suspect that anyone issued with such a thing might be a little confused now and then as to what it actually was: a handgun or a shoulder gun. Yet they were fairly popular, if not exactly common, for the first few decades of the last century, beginning with the Mauser (although the Borchardt had one, too--but I've never seen a Borchardt and I've even owned a Mauser). Apparently the Mauser C96 came with a shoulder stock more often than not and the one I had had one. I can't report all that favorably on the combination but that's only because the fit was poor and left the stock a little wobbly.

Anyhow, some Lugers and Hi-Powers had them and even a few pre-1911 Colt 45 automatic and perhaps .38s, too. I suppose making them basically illegal killed the idea. One or two companies made a kind of rifle that you inserted a pistol into to make a shoulder gun, which on the surface seems like a good idea, too, but it didn't seem to catch on. One of them came from the old F.I.E. corporation in D.C. That was about 50 years ago.
 
To my knowledge, Taurus makes a revolver carbine right now, called the Circuit Judge. Gunblast did a review: http://www.gunblast.com/Taurus-CircuitJudge.htm

IMHO... it's still pretty useless in most scenarios, but read the article - it might have merit through versatility even if it doesn't excel at any one particular task.

Not nearly as ugly as I thought it would be when I first heard the concept. I've seen them in person. Wouldn't buy one, but certainly wouldn't look down on somebody who did.
 
why are revovler rifles so rare?
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Costly to produce (fitting lots of moving parts, precise machining needed to ensure cylinder-barrel alignment), slow to reload, lack of accuracy, generally use low-power cartridges, and the barrel-cylinder gap issue already pointed out. Why would you buy an expensive, inaccurate, low-powered, and physically dangerous rifle?
 
Basically, imo, there are MUCH better ways to build a rifle than out of a revolver platform.
What do you like? Lever-action? Bolt-action? Gas-powered semi-auto?

Well any gun that wasnt phased out years ago for being a bad idea!
 
I was testing the sights on my .44 with new factory ammo. I sat down with my back against the bench to simulate sitting against a tree hunting. I set the bottom of the revolver on my arm and let go. In three shots my sleeve was on fire. I have to agree with the nay sayers on all counts. In my defense, it was about 40-45 years ago.
 
The biggest problem was the barrel gap and gasses burning the arm of uneducated shooters. There are many examples of these revolving rifles made as repros, still popular with the black powder crowd.

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There are some modern ones being made,,,

Here is one from a Czech company,,,
Click here please,,,

Here is one by Rossi with two cylinders for .22 LR and .22 Magnum.
Click here please,,,

Uberti makes the Cap and Ball replica of the 1858 Remington Revolving Rifle,,,
Click here please,,,

Colt made some versions of a revolving rifle based on their 1855 frame,,,
Click here please,,,

I can't swear to this but I am certain I saw some cartridge Colt revolving rifles at the J. M. Davis gun museum in Claremore, Oklahoma.

When I was a kid one of my buddies had a revolving rifle in .22 LR,,,
I have no idea who was the maker but it was a break-open action so I always thought it might have been an H&R gun.

Aarond
 
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